The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1887-05-04
The Duty of Christians Relative TO
the Missionary Cause.

WV "Ss'OHdVy OduS6s
The last words, spoken by our Master,
before His Ascension were, And We shall
receive power after that the HOLY Ghost
has come upon you, and ye shall be wit
nesses of me in Judea, Samarin, and the
uttermost parts of the earth" These be
ing His last words undoubtedly they we're
supremely important ones. If a man Of
business were about to take steamer, for
long tour, in a foreign land, without donbt
the few hurried sentences, spoken Just be-
fore he went aboard ship, to the agent
whom he had left behind i'm entire super
vision Of his property interests would
contain very essential instructions. In
| this light we must view the farewell mes
sage Of Jesus. The first thought il i'm
| presses upon us is that His people must
have an attainment beyond their natural
! powers and indeed beyond the grace given
at conversion before they are competent
to do effective work for the master. All
| the Apostles were strong minded men
though the most of them were undedu-
Gated. The entire eleven had been con-
verted from the time they obeyed the
| command to leave all and follow Jesus.
But yet not a word must they speak; not
blow must they strike; not an effort
must they exert with reference to tho
Spiritual kingdom He had appointed them
to establish until they had tarried at Je-
rusalem sufficiently long to receive power
from on High. This power was the be-
stowment of the Holy Spirit which prior
| to the Day of Pentecost had been bestowed
upon few eminent characters to prepare
them for some important embassy for the
Master but had not been bestowed upon
Gods people as a mass. The conferInent
| of this power was to be the prime and in
| dispensible preparation for their life's
work. 1t alone could qualify them to be
true witnesses of Christ. And We shall be
witnesses of me-not witnesses of Juda-
isms; of the dualisLic philosophy of the
doctrines of the Stoics; of the teachings
of Epicurus or of political economy, but
of me. This witness was to be offered not
at home, in Judea alone, but in Samaria
and the uttermost parts Of the earth.
These words, primarily spoken to the
Apostles, have equal reference to Gods
people in all ages and locations. Divine
purposes and agencies of work are as un-
changable as the Being from whom they
emanate. 1t is still his commandment
that His people should seek the Holy
Spirits power before attempting work for
him. Without working for Him they can
not be His children and without the bap-
tism spoken of they car not do efficient
work. The mind, the tongue, the pocket
book, the every day life must have re-
ceiVed PentecOstal bestowment or thew
are certain to fall far short of the Divine
standard of requirement. When this has
been received, then Gods people will be-
come witnesses of Him. The sanctiied
igNa ht,kl
of Darwin, Herbert Spencer, materialism,
politics or any other subject than Christ
and Him crucitied. The layman will
make his financial sacrifices for Witness
ing Christ to the world confirm TO the one
third standard of the ancient Israelite and
his dealings with and life among his fellow
men VIII reflect lustre upon the cause of
the Master.
This witnessing for Christ must not be
confined to Judea, which typifies our home
churches. 1t must extend into Ssmaria
which represents the "home'' and unto
the uttermost parts of the earth which has
a parallel with our "FoFeign" Missionary
work. The lawless, illiterate thousands
of our centres of population; the Indian
tribes of our country proper and laska;
the Mormons the colored race the thous-
ands who every year flock to our shores
from other climes, who largely are out of
sympathy with our social and spiritual
institutions, present fertile fields for the
sickle of the gospel harvester at home;
and nevor so largely as now were the
heathen of foreign lands so accessible to
missionary effort Commercial treaties
between their governments and those of
the great Christian powers the spirit of
exploration into Africa and other sections
hitherto but little known to the civilized
world present opportunities for Witness
ing Christ never before within reach, The
question whether Missionary work paws
is one with which Gods people should
only in secondary sense be concerned,
The soldier never asks his commanding
officer If it will pay to execute the orders
given him. He blindly obeys and leaves
the responsibility of the results with him
who gave the orders. Our orders are to
preach the gospel to every creature to
witness Christ in Judea, Samaria and the
uttermost parts of the earth. The SALIVA
ton of souls and the winning of trophies
are in the hands of Him who issued the
mandate. Our duty is to bring all our
sanctified powers of heart, mind, voice
and purse into obedience to it. A eolored
preacher, who believed in obeying literal
ly every command of the Bible, was once
asked what he would do if the Good Book
commended him to jump through a stone
wall. I'D jump" he replied. "De Jump
in troo it would be de Lords work. De
jumpin at it would be mine" This clear
ly illustrates the principle which should
govern all Christians relatiYe to the Mis-
sionary Cause.
For the benefit of those who guage con-
tributions by fruits, in a future article,
we will show that no money pays a bet
ter interest on the investment than that
deposited in the missionary Bank"